Icemen end regular season on a low note

The regular season has come to a close, but it didn’t end in quite the fashion they’d hoped for.

The Icemen split their final games of the regular season, winning 3-1 over the Stony Plains Flyers and losing an overtime goalfest, 6-5, to the Edmonton Royals.

Sunday

Sunday’s matinee was a high scoring affair between two east division clubs, as the Icemen and Edmonton Royals squared off.

Wetaskiwin’s Dawson Kress lit up the lamp first with a short-handed effort early in the first frame before Edmonton’s Dakota Mercredi tied it up.

“We had a really strong start the first five, 10 minutes of the game,” said Icemen head coach Rick Gregory. “But the Royals, their playoff lives were kind of on the line that night and they came back really hard.”

Despite surrendering the lead early in the second period, the Icemen stormed back with four unanswered goals from Ryley Bennefield, Jordan Howe, Dallas Graham, and Kress. Two of those markers came on the power play.

But it all came undone in the third period, when the Royals mounted their comeback.

“We really self-destructed in the third period,” said Gregory.

Having only dressed 17 players, some still out of action due to illness, it became difficult down the stretch to rotate the lines as players started to wear out and took untimely penalties.

“It was a tough game and it’s about time for a few guys … to learn their lesson,” said Gregory. “Because it’s fast becoming too late to learn that lesson, and we can’t afford to implode the way we did.”

Edmonton’s Cam Bush scored his second of the night with the overtime winner.

“It was definitely a discouraging finish, but it was also a good insight into how some of us might react to when the chips are down,” said Gregory.

Wednesday

Travelling to Stony Plain Feb. 6, the Icemen faced off against league cellar dwellers in what they hoped would be an easy contest.

Goaltender Jeremy Balyk started in net for the Icemen, after Chris Sharkey had been lit up for 12 goals the previous weekend.

“We got a good performance out of Jeremy,” said Gregory. “Anytime you only give up one goal, you give yourself a pretty good chance to win.”

Icemen defenceman Leon Cutknife opened the scoring about 10 minutes into the game, before the Flyers’ Austin Dow tied it up barely a minute later.

“Stony’s had a tough season. They’re not a bad team, they just don’t win a lot of games,” commented Gregory.

It was all tied up heading into the third, before Kevin Liner broke the deadlock with a power play goal four minutes in. Zack Littlechild sealed the deal for the Icemen with under a minute left, potting an empty net goal.

“We outshot them and definitely ‘out-chanced’ them,” said Gregory. “But when it was 2-1 in that third period, they did get a couple of power plays and put some pressure on us, but we were able to hold the fort.”

The Wetaskiwin club managed to pull off the victory despite having a depleted lineup, missing several players due to illness, injury and work obligations.

“It was one where we tried to mix up the lines and get guys playing with different players just so we don’t get too complacent going into playoffs,” explained Gregory.

With the Icemen stealing the points, the Flyers went on to lost their last game and end their season with a league low of just four points.

The Icemen will now have more than a week off as other teams wrap up their regular season and playoff spots are solidified.